Holder



Nov. 17, 1964 H. SMITH, JR., ETAL 3,157,406

HOLDER Filed Feb. 25, 1963 lBc 34 24c 4 INVENTORS Horace L. Smith, Jr: 5 George B. Voge/eer BY yzwzw /w ATTORNEYj United States Patent C) 3,157,496 HSLDER Eoraee L Smith, .Ir., Richmond, and George B. Vogeleer,

Hopewell, Va, assignors to Hupp Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Virginia Filed Feb. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 266,913 Claims. (Cl. 279-2) This invention relates to holders and, more particularly, to novel holders for rotatably supporting cans or other hollow art cles. It is particularly useful in apparatus for drying 's deposited on cans to form labels although it may advantageously be employed for other purposes as well.

Ln 2. recently developed method of producing beer cans, the containers are formed from aluminum slugs in an impact extruder at a rate of about 25 0 per minute, degreased, dried, and internally coated with a thermoplastic epoxy or vinyl material. The internal coating is dried and the cans conveyed to a cylinder type dry ofiset printing press where up to four different colors of inks and an overvarnish are applied to the exteriors of the cans. In existing installations the inks and overvarnish are then dried by circulating 325 F. air around the cans for a period of 8-10 minutes.

I have developed novel improved apparatus for drying the inks and overvarnish by heating the cans with radiant energy. By employing this apparatus, the drying time may be shortened from 8l0 minutes to less than 20 seconds. In this novel apparatus the majority of the radiant energy impinging upon the can is absorbed by the inlts and overvarnish. However, a small portion of the radiant energy will be absorbed by and heat the cans which, being made of a highly conductive material, will transfer the heat to the internal coating. To prevent this coating from flowing and to ensure that the entire surface of the can is uniformly exposed to the radiant energy emanating from the radiant heaters so that the cans will not be over-- heated and annealed in localized areas, they must be continuously rotated during the drying process.

Conventional mandrels and .arbors have proved unsuitable for supporting the cans during the drying cycle because they are not adapted to support a closed end container and/or do not provide satisfactory resistance against rocking or tipping of the can. In addition, the prior art devices have generally not permitted sufiiciently rapid dotting of the dried cans because of frictional forces, have tended to damage the relatively soft internal coatings, and have lacked the ability to properly position and center the cans.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide improved holders for rotatably supporting cans and other hollow articles.

In its preferred embodiment, the novel holder provided by the present invention includes an arm-supporting body member adapted to be fixed to the end of a rotating shaft. A plurality of (preferably three) equidistantly spaced spring arms are fixed to the body member to provide two sets of spaced apart contact points for positioning, centering, and rigidly supporting a can slid over the holder into abutment with one of the two sets of spring arm contact points. Soft, readily replaceable sleeves of material having a low coeflicient of friction are disposed on the spring arms to reduce the friction between the can and holder, to reduce wear on the spring arms, and to prevent the spring arms from damaging the cans internal coating.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that other objects of .this invention include the provision of novel spider type holders for hollow articles such as cans and the like which:

(1) Positively position and center the article as it is forced over the holder;

3,157,406 Patented Nov. -1 7, 1964 (2) Provide a stable, tipping and rocking resistant support;

(3) Include readily replaceable article contacting members for reducing friction between the articles and the holders, for reducing wear on the holder, and for preventifng the holder from damaging the articles internal suraces;

(4-) Are inexpensive and durable.

Other objects and further novel features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the appended claims and as the ensuing detailed description and discussion proceeds in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a View illustrating one application of the novel spider type holder provided by the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the holder;

FIGURE 3 is a left-hand end view of the holder;

FIGURE 4 is a right-hand end View of the holder; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged scale section through a holder spring arm tfien substantially along line 55 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawing, FIGURE 1 illustrates an article depicted as a hollow container or can 10 removably supported on a rotatable shaft 12 by a spider type holder'14 constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Holder 14. includes a body member 16 fastened to the end of shaft 12 and a plurality of spring arms 18a-c which support can 11 in concentric relation to shaft 12 and position it longitudinally of the shaft with its closed end Zll a predetermined distance from the outboard end of shaft 12. In the illustrated embodiment, spring arms 18ac are surrounded by replaceable plastic sleeves 22a-c and Z-ia-c to reduce the Wear on the spring arms and to reduce the friction between the spring arms and can 10.

Body member 1%, which has a cylindrical configuration, may be fabricated of any economic, readily machinable material such as mild steel. An aperture 26 through the body member permits holder 14 to be readily attached to the outboard end of shaft 12 as by asetscrew 28 which extends through an aperture 29 in body member 16 into engagement with shaft 12. If desired, body member 16 may be fabricated from a standard steel setscrew collar such as those manufactured by the Boston Gear Vlorks.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, each of the spring arms 18ac (which are preferably formed from small diameter spring wire) has a central portion 36 and coplanar arms portions 32 and 34 bent at small angles to and extending in opposite directions from the central portion. The ends of arm portions 32 and 34 are bent int-o semicircular configurations to provide two sets of can supporting contact points 36 and 38 lying in planes normal to and spaced longitudinally of shaft 12 on opposite sides of body member 16. In addition, the semicircular ends of arm portions 34 provide three coplanar stops 4t) against which the end 2% of can 1% can be pushed to longitudinally position the can relative to the outboard end of shaft 12 and holder 14.

Spring arms 1Sa-'c are attached to body member 16 by Welding or brazing them in grooves 42 spaced around the periphery of the body member. As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the contact points 36 and 38 of spring arm portions 32 and 34 lie at the points of equilateral triangles centered on the longitudinal axis of body member 15 when holder 14 is assembled. As may best be seen from a comparison of FIGURES 2 and 4, spring arm portions 32 are longer than portions 34 and contact points 36 lie further from the longitudinal centerline of body member 16 than contact points 38. This arrangement ensures proper wntenng of can 10 and maximum resistance against tilting or tipping.

After spring arms 18a-c are assembled on body member 16, the replaceable sleeves 22a-c and 24a.-c are slipped over the free ends of arm portions 32 and 34 (see FIG- URES 21and Sleeves ZZa-c and Eda-c may be fabricated from'any suitable flexible, wear resistant material havinga low coeflicient of friction, although Teflon is preferred. When the sleeves become worn by repeated doif- I "without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not re- 7 strictive, the'scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A spider type holder for supporting hollow articles, comprising: r V

(a) a body member; and a r (b) not less than three spring arms attached to said body member at substantially equidistant intervals around its periphery and providing two sets of spaced apart article supporting contact points radially and longitudinally displaced from the body member, the spring arm end portions at} one end of said holder being turned radially inward to provide stops for positioning an article longitudinally of said body member; and a (c) replaceable wear and friction reducing sleeves on said spring arms. 7 2. 1m combinationr 3 r r (a) a hollow container having a closed end and an open 7 end; 7

(la) a rotatable shaft; and

(c) a spider type holder detachably fixed to said shaft,

and supporting said container in predetermined relation longitudinally of andconcentric with said shaft, comprising:

(1) a body member; and

(2) not less than three spring arms attached to the body member at substantially equidistant intervals around its periphery, the end portions of f said spring arms being turned radially inward J to provide two sets of contact points radially and longitudinally displaced from and on opposite sides of the body member, the spring arm end portions providing one of said sets of contact.

points abutting the closed end of said container and thereby positioning it in a predetermined relationship longitudinally of the'shaft.

' 3. The combination as defined in claim 2, including a' pair of replaceable wear and friction reducing sleeves on each of said spring arms, the sleeves of each pairrextend ng from opposite ends of the associated spring arm tance from saidrmember to the smaller of said cir-' cles.

5. The holder as defined in claim 1, including a bore through said body member to permit ready assembly of said holder to a shaft type support."

References Cited by the Examiner 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 993,377 5/11 Hyde 279-23 1,745,033 1/ 30 Smith 27923 3,049,137 8/62 Cole 248-313 3,093,331 6/63 Carroll 242T46.6

FRANK SUSKO, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Examiner. 

1. A SPIDER TYPE HOLDER FOR SUPPORTING HOLLOW ARTICLES, COMPRISING: (A) A BODY MEMBER; AND (B) NOT LESS THAN THREE SPRING ARMS ATTACHED TO SAID BODY MEMBER AT SUBSTANTIALLY EQUIDISTANT INTERVALS AROUND ITS PERIPHERY AND PROVIDING TWO SETS OF SPACED APART ARTICLE SUPPORTING CONTACT POINTS RADIALLY AND LONGITUDINALLY DISPLACED FROM THE BODY MEMBER, THE SPRING ARM END PORTIONS AT ONE END OF SAID HOLDER BEING TURNED RADIALLY INWARD TO PROVIDE STOPS FOR POSITIONING AN ARTICLE LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID BODY MEMBER; AND (C) REPLACEABLE WEAR AND FRICTION REDUCING SLEEVES ON SAID SPRING ARMS. 